Bending the Rules
by Dungeon Inspector
Summary: The Phantom Troupe has a Nen-powered snowball fight.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: The Phantom Troupe has a Nen-powered snowball fight. One-shot.

A story for my Hunter X Hunter 2016 Christmas Challenge on AO3. Anyone interested feel free to join!

Prompt: a Nen-powered snowball fight.

Bending the Rules

* * *

All was quiet as most of the city's residents huddled together in various alleyways using old trash cans as fireplaces. Lingering in one of the many alleys was the Phantom Troupe, the most infamous band of criminals in the world and the city's guardians. Snow went up to their knees. Above the knees in Feitan's case. Meteor City was a frozen garbage dump, but it was home.

A golden coin flipped through the air before landing in Machi's palm with a light _smack_. "Heads, you win."

Phinks lifted his shoulder in a half shrug, he wasn't going to start winding up yet. The movement was more habit than necessity. "Let's do this shit."

"I still feel like this is breaking the no fighting rule."

"For fuck's sake don't be a sore loser. Besides, Fei's the boss for now and what the boss says goes, right?"

Thrusting forward his umbrella to point at Phinks, Feitan said, "We'll fight. I'll win."

Phinks winced. "You're not helping our case."

The other Spider's retreated across the road to watch from a safe distance. As long as the bout didn't get too serious, they'd relent.

Scooping snow off the ground Phinks began to twist his arm. "I think five should still be friendly."

A Nen-snowball flew.

With a _whoosh_ , Feitan opened his umbrella to shield himself.

Snow splashed off the umbrella. The hit was less powerful than Phinks' usual punch, but strong enough to push him back even as he dug his heels into the snow.

He dropped the umbrella. Clicking a hidden button he pulled out his sword from it.

While he could cut the snowballs with his hands, he was a transmuter giving him only 80% efficiency in enhancement and 60% in emission. That would be matched by Phinks being an enhancer giving him 100% in that category and 80% efficiency in emission. The match needed to stay "friendly" and it was better if his sword broke than his hand in the case he misjudged how much power to put into a strike. "My turn."

Phinks had the advantage of stronger attacks and better defense against each hit, but Feitan's speed made up the difference. Slicing, smirking, sprinting - Phinks could only wonder how the fuck was Feitan sprinting in the snow – the little bastard was slinging snowballs faster than the laws of physics should allow.

Jab. Cross. Jab. Cross. Phinks smashed the incoming snowballs.

His Ten covered him like a warm blanket, but each punch was like shoving his hands into ice water as they made contact with Feitan's Nen. Without something to shield him from the backslash the flurry of flakes obscured his vision. He was partially blinded by a sea of white. Only the light _crunch_ of boots touching down on snow between leaps warned him of incoming attacks.

Dashing over to a street lamp, he took cover. It would only be a tenth of a second at the most before Feitan could re-position enough to hit him at his new location.

Springing onto a fire escape pad's railing, Feitan snagged the snow off his perch to resume his onslaught. Another icy ball was hurled at Phinks, exploding against the lamp-post. He grinned, too wide and too proud from sadistic joy. "Is this your best?"

Phinks' fingers were chilled to the point they no longer wished to bend, but he formed another projectile. But cold or not, a fight was a fight and he didn't give in – ever. Glaring up at Feitan, he cranked his arm. Once. Twice... Ten times. One hand full of snow later, he missed Feitan's stomach. However, the snowball had enough power behind it to snap Feitan's sword and fling him back.

Knocked off the railing, Feitan hit the ground sending up a cloud of snow. Spayed out on his back, he placed a hand on his stomach and coughed. "Piece of crap."

A puddle began to form around him as his aura flared and heated, an invisible flame licking the snow.

"Eh, looks like they're getting serious," said Shalnark. His phone clicked as he took a picture of the two combatants.

"Is this really the time for that?" asked Machi. Leaning over to peek at the image, she rolled her eyes. The caption read: Phinks spanks a butthurt Fei.

"When else am I going to catch them playing? The boss is gonna love these when he gets back."

She snorted as she glanced over at Feitan.

A cloud of gray steam obscured the air around him as the newly made puddle boiled. His face was already turning pink from stewing in his own personal hot tub puddle.

Her voice was flat as she said, "It won't do any good if there's no city to come back too."

"I'll take care of it." Extending her hand, Shizuku conjured her vacuum - Blinky.

An infinite number of nonliving objects could be consumed by the vacuum. It could not inhale things that are alive, conjured, or made out of Nen. No objects could be retrieved except for the last object that was eaten.

"Blinky, suck all the snow up."

A wet _slurp_ came from Blinky as it licked its lips. Snow flew up from the ground and was sucked into the vacuum's mouth till the alleyway was clear. _Burp_.

Blowing out his cheeks, Shalnark huffed. "It's too bad, I always liked playing in the snow." He trailed off and nudged an uncovered piece of trash with his foot.

A low grunt of agreement came from Nobunaga. "It's one of the few things here for the kids since it's free."

"Oh, I can put it back," said Shizuku. Pointing Blinky back at Phinks and Feitan, she released the snow.

Stuck between the buildings, the pair was hit by the avalanche that rolled down the alleyway.

An odd crunching sound came from the ground as the heads of Phinks and Feitan popped up from under the snow. They glared at Shizuku.

Wiggling in the snow, Phinks managed to free an arm. He shook his fist at Shizuku. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

She smiled and waved back at him. "Winning!"

Breaking free to stand, Feitan brushed snow off his robe. "You weren't involved."

"I wasn't?"

Grunting, Phinks freed himself fully. "No!"

He shivered before looking over at Feitan. Their eyes met. They bent down to create new ammo. Fully charged snowballs flew through the air again. One sending snow down Shalnark's back as it hit his neck and the other exploded in Shizuku's face knocking her onto her butt. "Now you're involved."

Machi grabbed Kalluto's shoulder and said, "I have a feeling they're about to aim here soon."

He pulled out his fan. "I have four older brothers. A snowball fight is something I can handle."

Nodding to him, Machi released his shoulder. If had lost his mind like all the others that was his business, but she was going to follow the rules. Springing away, she tossed several needles up to create a web across the top of the alleyway. Hoisting herself up she fled above their heads. As she landed on her threads, snowballs whizzed below her from Phinks towards Kalluto.

A slight smile came to Kalluto's face as he imagined the pain and irritation they'd feel at knowing he could toy with them. Slowly beating them down with their own attacks. Slashing his fan downward, an unnatural wind kicked up sending the snowballs flying back across the alley.

Unprepared for the assault from behind, Shalnark was hit by the less than friendly fire. His fingers slipped into his pocket producing an antenna. The device in hand, he whirled around to face Kalluto. "That does it!"

He jammed the antenna into his arm. "Ugh, it really kills the fun to know I won't remember this..." His aura flared as Autopilot activated, he began quickly build up a tower of snowballs as tall as his own height. Tossing two at a time, he alternated between flinging his ammunition at Kalluto and Phinks.

Seeing the pile shrinking, Kortopi began duplicating snowballs.

Fingertips detaching with a metal clink. Franklin loaded himself with the irregular ammo. Raising his hands above Kortopi he fired snowballs at Feitan like machine gun bullets.

"This is my moment to show you the might my tribe!" said Bonolenov. Shedding his bandages, he spun producing an awful noise.

Covering their ears the others shrank back from the strange whistling he produced.

Nobunaga launched an icy missile at Bonolenov. "Knock that shit off!"

The snow plugged the holes in Bonolenov's body, lessening the sound. Recovering, all the other spider's took aim and began to peg him with snowballs.

Every artificial hole was filled with snow. Defeated Bonolenov curled up on the ground shivering.

Shalnark's phone beeped. "Autopilot disengaged."

As his aura dropped down to a lower intensity, Shalnark ached with a strange mixture of being numb, raw, and bruised. He tried to raise his hand to finish pulling out his antenna, but dropped his arm as it cramped. "Ouch. Huh, who won?"

Nobunaga's head was still ringing as he rubbing an ear hoping to lessen the pain. "I don't know who won, but Bono lost."

Teeth chattering, Bonolenov's voice quivered as he said, "I surrender this battlefield. Now I would be most grateful if someone hand me my bandages, please."

Accepting his surrender, they quickly retrieved his wet bandages from under the piles of snow. They were frozen and bruised from the fight. But all that mattered was that their bonds were as strong as ever. With Feitan as the temporary head and the other nine as his legs, the Spider was still united as one.

* * *

Let me know if I got anything jarringly wrong. I've only seen snow that stuck around for a day once and have never made a snowball much less been in a snowball fight.


	2. Bonus Chrollo

It felt wrong to have a Phantom Troupe snowball fight story without Chrollo somewhere, so here's a bonus battle just for him. Set between the end of the anime (chapter 339) and chapter 351.

Bonus Battle: Chrollo vs Hisoka

* * *

Months past during their game of cat and mouse, but Hisoka had managed to catch Chrollo. Together the pair stood facing off in the forest just outside of town. Heels sunk deep into the snow, Hisoka stood twirling a snowball that hung from his Bungee Gum. "My Nen has the properties of both rubber and glue."

Book in hand, Chrollo merely smiled. "How could I forget, don't you get tired of saying that in every battle?"

"And here I thought I was the clown."

Eyeing the whirling ball of snow, Chrollo prepared to fight. To control the battle he needed one thing: he could not allow himself to be caught by Hisoka's ability.

With Bungee Gum being applicable on contact as long as Hisoka was the aggressor, blocking would not be good enough. He needed to keep the battle long ranged. This would be difficult to achieve since they were surrounded by trees that Hisoka could use to attach his gum to and swing through. Being able to avoid the snow while he was earthbound would grant Hisoka greater mobility.

The second way Bungee Gum could be applied is from a distance while concealed with In. He'd have to keep Hisoka constantly under pressure as Gyo would not be an option under most battle conditions. Taking a hit while his aura was focused into his eyes rather than protecting his body could prove fatal.

The conditions were not ideal, he would have to end the fight and withdraw as soon as an opportunity for a clean escape presented itself. While the Spider could continue without him, he would not die before ensuring he'd removed the threat Hisoka posed. Only once he had a guaranteed victory would he deal with Hisoka, the danger to the Spider was too high to risk a loss.

With the damage, Hisoka had dealt them he was the troupe's worst enemy. He'd had killed Omokage to become number four. Then he'd colluded with Kurapika, indirectly causing them two more deaths and leading to his Nen being sealed. Kurapika was a relatively small nuisance by comparison.

The gum stretched as Hisoka pitched the icy projectile across the grove.

Having his own ammo is hand, Chrollo allowed his aura to spread over his hand. The outer layer melted leaving him with a solid chunk of ice. By matching it with Hisoka's snowball the greater density would allow it to smash through.

However, before the two spheres could crash, Hisoka's swerved slightly left.

The elastic property of his ability gave Hisoka another advantage. Even after leaving his hand, by making minor tugs, he could slightly adjust the course of his missile. However, once Chrollo threw his snowballs he could not alter their flight path.

Dodging to the side, Chrollo reached out to grab the snowball out of the air. If he could catch it, he could pull Hisoka off balance while he was still attached. Using the snowball as an intermediary would hold less risk them allowing himself to be caught by the Bungee Gum. If that happened the battle would devolve into a tug of war contest. One he could not win as in raw strength he was 7th within the Phantom Troupe while Hisoka had been 3rd.

The snowball was released from Hisoka's sticky aura just as it hit Chrollo's palm.

Dropping the snowball, a large black cloth appeared in Chrollo's hand. "I believe you'll remember this one. I picked it up in Yorknew City, from one of the mafia's Shadow Beasts."

Held out in front of his was the Fun Fun Cloth. A conjured cloth that could increase and decrease in size according to the user's will. Whatever is covered in the cloth decreases in size until it fits in the palm of a hand. The user could make it go back to its original size by letting it out of the bag.

"Of course, Feitan's torture session produced so many screams. It was a delight," said Hisoka. He charged forward.

Shielded by the cloth, Chrollo could avoid Bungee Gum getting attached directly and if Bungee Gum stuck to the cloth he could simply dispel then re-conjure it. However with the Fun Fun Cloth in one hand and the Bandit's Secret in the other he was left with limited options to counter attack.

Ducking to avoid a punch, he could feel the cold air rush by his ear. "I never liked playing tag, this is growing rather tiresome."

His lack of ability to use both hands was the worst disadvantage he'd noticed thus far. Not too bad, but it would be troublesome. Kicking into the snow, he sent up a cloud of powder into Hisoka's face.

Holding his hands out wide, Hisoka created a net out of his Nen. The snow was caught preventing it from blinding him. Stretching his hands farther to increase the tension the icy slush bounced back towards Chrollo.

With a swish, Chrollo tossed the Fun Fun Cloth over Hisoka's return fire. Folding itself the cloth wrapped up the snow and shrank. The small bag landed in the palm of his hand.

A black Joker card, spades, appeared in Hisoka's hand. "You should start taking this seriously, it's not as fun when you're playing around."

"Now you really have caught me..."

Flicking his wrist, Chrollo threw the small bag towards Hisoka.

The card shot out slicing the bag open.

Snow splattered against Hisoka's face. Spluttering as he raised an arm to wipe his eyes.

There was a _crunch crunch crunch -_ boots in the snow.

Chrollo kicked Hisoka's side sending him crashing into a nearby tree with a _crack_.

Pushing himself up, Hisoka licked his lips. "Ah yes, that's more like it. Let's get serious now shall we?"

"Serious, you've yet to touch me."

A few pages over from Owl, Chrollo found the next ability he wanted to use. the last person he'd gotten to try it on was Nobunaga... "Do you still wish to continue?"

"Of course."

Gum attached to Hisoka's feet. Using it as rubber he'd springboard off the tree his was by to fly at Chrollo. However, as he jumped everything turned blue.

Teleportation completed, Chrollo waved at Hisoka who was almost out of eyesight.

Wide eyes and a slack jaw, Hisoka. While he'd seen the ability as it had been used to prevent Nobunaga from attacking him, he had not expected Chrollo to do that. Closing his eyes he moaned. "I can't wait." The message had been received, he'd have his fight once Chrollo was ready. Trying to start it early would only end in him being bounced back.

Turning away, Chrollo walked away in the direction of Meteor City.

Once there he could meet with any available Spiders to learn about any people with interesting skills he could collect and then move on. The fight had served as an excellent trial run and he now had a firm idea what he'd need to do to ensure victory. For now, he needed to continue gathering abilities and biding his time. There was no doubt the chase would continue.

Hisoka had to prove himself as the most powerful. It was fascinating how he proactively sought situations that brought death close to him.

Humans were strange...

Chrollo had no answer for who he was or why he killed. But he knew he was the Spider, but the Spider was not him. What made people who they were?

Finding and exploring the darkness within other's souls by taking their abilities was the truest sense of pleasure he'd found. But why was that? Ownership perhaps? Being a theft he was fond of owning treasures and each ability he stole was a little piece of someone that no one else could ever have. No, that wasn't quite right. He sold every treasure that came into his possession and even occasionally returned an ability. Chrollo needed to understand.

Maybe that in of itself was a kind of logic.

He was no different than Hisoka in that respect, a puppet to his own desires and if that killed him then so be it. The survival of the Spider mattered, his own did not. Their game of cat and mouse wouldn't end until he knew every dark nook and cranny for Hisoka's black heart.

They'd have their death match, a large and grand one with all the flash Hisoka craved. A run of the mill duel wouldn't be enough to thank Hisoka for helping remove then Nen blade in his heart. Nor would a simple death be enough to return the favor for his part in putting it there. Soon he'd be finished weaving his web.

Hisoka would regret stepping into it willingly.


End file.
